Saturday, March 21, 2010

Megan and Ashley love the new Chinese dresses they bought at the Oriental Bazaar today.

Peacock Park

I heard about another great park called Peacock Park, so Landon and I hopped in the car one morning and took off with somewhat of an idea on how to find it. The funny thing over here is nothing is marked. Other than the major expressway, highways, etc. roads aren't named here, so you have to know where you're going and people here use landmarks when telling you how to find a place. Well, I ended up missing my turn and not knowing it and driving a 1/2 hour further than what I was supposed to. After pulling into a 7-Eleven and miming to the Japanese woman (who didn't speak any English) where I was trying to go, I finally figured it out. The park turned out to be worth all that time finding it.

Isanoura Lake

Monday, March 22, 2010

Today Landon and I hiked around Isanoura Lake which is 5 kilometers around (something like 3.3 miles). It's a beautiful lake lined with Cherry Blossom Trees. They are just beginning to bloom as you can see from the pictures. I learned of something really neat today. Each Cherry Blossom Tree was planted by a newly married couple and then marked with a wooden plaque that contained their names and the date in which the tree was planted. How romantic:) Also, if you catch a falling blossom in the palm of your hand, your wish is supposed to come true.

Nagasaki Lantern Festival

Every year, during the last 2 weeks of February, the Japanese celebrate the New Year and have Lantern Festivals. This was a neat thing to experience. We drove to Nagasaki (about a 2-hour drive) to see a Lantern Festival there. By the way, just in case you aren't aware, Nagasaki is one of the two places we dropped an atom bomb! The city was beautifully decorated with lanterns of all sizes and shapes and at night the sight was even more beautiful when the lanterns all light up. Check out the pictures at the left side of the screen going down.

Nagasaki Bio Park Zoo

This zoo was like no other we've been to. These park owners want their animals to be happy and comfortable, so there are few fences to contain animals. Because of this, visitors of the park can interact with most of the animals. We were able to get up close and even feed animals like monkeys, bats, kangeroos, and hippos. Jim and I joked about how many animals must come up missing on a daily basis at the zoo, because it seems not much is done to keep them caged.

Sakai Park is like no other park we've been to. The park goes up the side of a mountain and at each level there is a different section of the park. There were some breathtaking views on our hike through the park. Behind us is a really cool artificial grass sledding area. We look forward to trying this out in the Spring. The park also had a zipline that the kids really enjoyed. Jim and I even gave it a try:) Oh, and check out that slide. It was literally straight down! For kids? Seriously?

Trip to the Aquarium at Kujakushima Park

What a fabulous place. We went with some neighbors of ours and had a great time. The aquarium had just undergone renovations and had reopened.

Exploring Sasebo

Thursday, February 5, 2010

We ventured out into the city today. First we visited an ancient shrine. It's customary to cleanse the hands first and then use a wooden spoon to put water into your mouth to swish and spit (this is to cleanse the mouth before entering the shrine). Next, in front of the shrine, I threw a gold 50Yen coin in the fountain for good luck, pulled the rope to ward off evil spirits, and made a wish ( I can't remember if it was done in that exact order:)

After the shrine, we drove out to Kujokoshima Park (home of the 99 Islands). You'll see some of the tour boats in the picture. Unfortunately, it was too cold to go out on one of the boats so we'll save that trip for a later time.

Then we were off for a Japanese lunch. Luckily, we had a Japanese translator with us to help us with our order. However, we did find out that this particular place did have the menu in English. The food was very, VERY good.

After lunch, of course, we had to make a trip to the bathroom. I'll just say, the bathrooms are different here. What you see in the picture is what most bathrooms here have (a squat potty). Most also don't have toilet paper, so be sure you bring extra tissue with you. Thankfully, one American toilet was there and boy what a treat- a heated seat! I've got to buy one of these to take back to the states with us.